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Sharks to Distribute Food to Bay Area Needy

by
Staff Writer
/ San Jose Sharks

Lift Up America and the San Jose Sharks are teaming up with Tyson Foods, Inc. to help bring the gift of food to the area’s less fortunate on Wednesday, Feb. 18. San Jose Sharks players Devin Setoguchi, Jeremy Roenick, Brad Lukowich, Claude Lemieux and other members of the team will be on hand to help unload the food during the donation announcement.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties will distribute the food to more than 30 soup kitchens and pantries throughout the San Jose area. The donation event will be held at Second Harvest Food Bank’s San Jose warehouse at 1:30 p.m. beginning with a news conference, followed by the food distribution.

Lift Up America’s vision is to provide important necessities to families and instill hope in the hearts of America’s less-fortunate. Each year Lift Up America partners with corporate supporters and professional and collegiate sports organizations to deliver donations to local communities.

“Lift Up America is proud of the partnership and team spirit between these great organizations,” said Dave Hannah, Chairman/Founder of Lift Up America. “It is important, especially this time of year, that every company, and individual, identifies ways that they can give back.”

This year is the fifth in which Tyson has partnered with Lift Up America and its network of professional and college sports teams to distribute food and create awareness of the issue of hunger.

“We’ve continued in the fight against hunger in this country for nearly a decade now and we’re hearing the call from across the nation,” says Leland Tollett, president and CEO of Tyson Foods. “At Tyson our goal is to support families through food donations and to encourage other companies and individuals to identify ways they can share resources and make an impact in the fight against hunger. We are honored to join forces with Lift Up America to bring awareness to the issue of hunger in America.”

More than 36.2 million Americans, including 12.4 million children, are food insecure. Food insecurity in the United States is rising rapidly with the downturn in the economy and employment. Feeding America food banks across the country are experiencing significant increases in requests for food assistance, especially during the holiday season. Click here for more information on rising food insecurity.

Tyson Foods is the world’s largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef and pork. As part of their ongoing commitment to hunger relief, Tyson Foods has donated more than 54 million pounds of protein to local food banks since 2000. Click here for more information on Tyson Hunger Relief.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties is a private non-profit organization that acquires and distributes more than 34 million pounds of food annually. Through their network of more than 328 community-based, non-profit organizations operating food assistance programs at 1,051 distribution sites, they currently serve an average of 200,000 people each month; the majority of whom are low income families and senior citizens.

Here’s Life Inner City is a distribution partner of the Lift Up America strategy. HLIC serves more than 1,400 neighborhood and faith based agencies in cities across America providing the poor with food and other basic necessities, life skills, career development and youth development programs. For more information, please visit www.hlicjax.org.

Lift Up America, founded in 2004, is a collaborative effort of national partners that includes caring companies such as Tyson Foods, Give the Gift of Sight (a Luxottica Group Foundation), Starkey Hearing Foundation, Ty Inc., Cinemark Holdings, Inc., Interstate Batteries and 37 pro and college sports teams and local non-profit agencies to provide the gift of food, sight, hearing, hope and comfort to our nation’s less fortunate.

In 2006, Lift Up America added such major corporations as Starkey Hearing Foundation, Interstate Batteries and Cinemark Theaters in addition to over 30 other national corporations and business to implement the “Giving Hope Tour,” adding the gift of entertainment to those it serves. Lift Up America, through its sponsors, provided more than $25 million in hearing aids, helped approximately 26,000 people in need of prescription eyeglasses, and delivered 10 million meals, over $40 million in scholarships and over $80 million in gifts-in-kind to the less fortunate across America.

Lift Up America Tyson Foods, Inc. [NYSE: TSN], founded in 1935 with headquarters in Springdale, Arkansas, is the world’s largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork, the second-largest food production company in the Fortune 500 and a member of the S&P 500. The company produces a wide variety of protein-based and prepared food products and is the recognized market leader in the retail and foodservice markets it serves. Tyson provides products and service to customers throughout the United States and more than 80 countries. The company has approximately 107,000 Team Members employed at more than 300 facilities and offices in the United States and around the world.

Through its Core Values, Code of Conduct and Team Member Bill of Rights, Tyson strives to operate with integrity and trust and is committed to creating value for its shareholders, customers and Team Members. The company also strives to be faith-friendly, provide a safe work environment and serve as stewards of the animals, land and environment entrusted to it. Visit www.tyson.com for more details.